Bridget Bishop, "a singular character, not easily described," was supposedly born between 1632 and 1637. Apparently Bishop married three times in her short life. Her third and final marriage, after the deaths of her first two husbands, was to Edward Bishop, who was employed as a lumber worker. From what is currently known, Bridget appears to have had no children in any of her marriages.
Although Bishop had been accused by more individuals for witchcraft than any other defendant (many of the accusations were markedly vicious and crude), it was not so much her "sundry acts of witchcraft" that caused her to be the first witch hanged in Salem, as it was her vibrant lifestyle and provocative manner of dress. Despite being a member of Mr. Hale's Church in Beverly, Bishop often kept the gossip mill busy in town with stories of her publicly fighting with her various husbands, entertaining guests at home until late at night, drinking and playing the forbidden game of shovel board, and being the mistress of not one but…show more content… She was often described as wearing, "a black cap, and a black hat, and a red paragon bodice bordered and looped with different colors." This was considered a showy costume for the times. Aside from the abundance rumors and social disdain, this "showy costume" was used as evidence against her at her trial for witchcraft. In his account, Shattuck, the town dyer mentions, as guaranteed proof of Bishop being a witch, that she used to bring to his store "sundry pieces of lace" of shapes and dimensions entirely outside his conceptions of what would be needed in the wardrobe of a plain and honest woman. This evidence was considered devastating because fashionable apparel at the time was regarded by some as a "snare and sign of the
